Crossing The Divide

The Biblical vision of life is a comprehensive worldview that encompasses all of life in a united stance and attitude of worship of the one true God, known in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

Yet, contemporary culture and societal norms often demand a cognitive separation between our Christian faith and dictate how we position and act in the public sphere. Our contemporary society divides the world into that of privately held religious beliefs and the common secular space, with the expectation that religious values and beliefs should be suspended in this marketplace of secular ideas. In turn, this secular space has its own sets of ideological beliefs and accepted behaviors, marked by a belief in the equality of all religions or even no religion at all, with culturally mandated behaviors marked by societal tolerance and compromise.

These commonly accepted beliefs and acceptable public behaviors in the secular domain of the marketplace are not stagnant, but being vulnerable to political and ideological shifts, fall prey to moral anomalies of secularization. This culturally enforced dichotomy in the sacred and secular divide is not only foreign to the message of the Bible but has done significant damage to the integrity of the message of the Christian Church.

Considering the clear and unchanging witness of Scripture on the unity of faith and action in all spheres of life, four questions come to mind: How do Christians discover the unity of witness and life? How do Christians unify their faith and actions in the world? How do believers cross the secular and sacred divide? And in combination with the last question, how do we rectify the damage done by the discrepancy between our confessed faith and our actions in the world? It is comforting to know that these questions about the sacred and secular divide are clearly addressed by the Word of God.

Rediscovering the Biblical Vision of the Unity of Faith and Life

The Bible, in a sacred canon of sixty-six books, communicates a united vision of a world created for the glory of God. In the creation account in the Book of Genesis, after each day of creation, the text declares that “God saw that it was good” (Gen 1:1-25). On the final day of creation, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen 1:27). Once again, the text declares that “God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31).

The “good” that the text of Genesis is speaking about is about the unity and ability of all of creation, including mankind, to speak about the glory of God. All of life is united in pointing back to the original source of this life, God, the creator of Heaven and Earth (Gen 1:1). King David, in the Book of Psalms, points to the purpose of all of creation to proclaim God’s glory, when he writes “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard” (Ps 19:1-3). This knowledge of God, evident in all that He created, is not hidden from anyone – and thus, everyone is without an excuse (Rom 1:20). The intimate knowledge of this God, according to the Scriptures, brings humans to love Him and to proclaim and seek His glory in every sphere of life.

In the Book of Deuteronomy, the famous “Shema” prayer (“shema” means to listen or hear), which scholars say is the summary of all God’s Law, commands those who love this creator God, to declare His glory in every context with no division between the sacred and secular. The “Shema” prayer instructs the faithful to, “hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deut 6:4-9). In this prayer of faith, which the faithful recited at the beginning and end of each day, all of life and every sphere, whether private or public, were united in purpose to declare the greatness and worth of He who created all of it. Knowing the greatness of God, necessitates that we use every opportunity (private or public), and every opportunity with no division between sacred and secular, to proclaim His praise in word and deed.

 Uniting our Faith and Action in our World

When we unnecessarily differentiate between the sacred and secular, we do damage to our souls. Hearing the Word of God and not acting upon it in every context brings an inner deception that tears at our souls. It is to put a limitation on God that does not exist. He is the creator and sustainer of all of life. The Apostle James warns against this deceiving divide when he admonishes, “but be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (Jas 1: 22). This failure to hear and perform His Word in every sphere of life and in every context, is to doubt Him, a condition James refers to being “double-minded” (Jas 1:8), and warns us that such a man, “must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord” (Jas 1:7) and that he is “unstable in all his ways” (Jas 1:8). The answer to this deceiving and damaging divide of separating life into the sacred and the secular, is to seek to honor and obey God and His word in all contexts and spheres of life. When we consider the reality of God’s existence and His reign in every area of life, we participate in the knowledge that He who is enthroned over all of creation will make “all things new” (Rev 21:5).

Crossing the Secular and Sacred Divide

When we cross the secular and sacred divide imposed upon us by the world, we participate in the healing of our world. We refuse to acknowledge the demonic division of space, time and place. We recognize that there is not one atom of matter that is separated from God’s powerful presence and from His loving rule. We, like the children of Israel, hold on to the promise of God when He declares, “every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you“(Josh 1:3). This sacred knowledge that all of life and every place belongs to Him and is subject to His rule – is to fear Him. The Biblical fear of God is a healing and restorative acknowledgment of His greatness and power for every sphere of existence. The Book of Psalms connects the healing of our land with this grounding fear of God when it says, “surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land” (Psalm 85:9). Jesus, in the prayer that He taught His disciples, describes this hope of the healing of our world best when He prays, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10).

There is no sacred and secular divide for those who have experienced the grace and restoration of Christ Jesus.

In the economy of Christianity, there is no place devoid from the hope of God’s healing and restoration. All of life and existence belongs to Him – it is all His! Considering this eternal truth, there is no sacred and secular divide for those who have experienced the grace and restoration of Christ Jesus. All of life, from our birth to our redemption to our eternal glory are all created by the Father and are sustained in Christ for the eternal glory of God. With this knowledge in mind, we join the prayer of King David when he prays for unity of heart so that he could praise God with all of his heart and honor Him in every sphere of life: “teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify Your name forever” (Ps 86:11-12 ). When our hearts are healed in the truth that all of our world belongs to Him, then our world can be renewed to God’s truth and glory – no more divide, no more separation – so that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14).

Dr Corné Bekker joined Regent University in 2005. He previously served as the associate dean for academics for Rhema Bible College in Johannesburg, South Africa, as a professor of Biblical and Ecclesial Leadership for the School of Business and Leadership as well as the chair of the Department of Biblical Studies and Christian Ministry at the College of Arts & Sciences. He was appointed as the Dean of the School of Divinity at Regent University in December 2015. He is the 2010 recipient of the Chancellor’s Award at Regent University for outstanding scholarship, teaching, and service. He has also served as an extraordinary professor for the Research Unit for Reformed Theology at the Northwest University in South Africa. When asked, he describes himself as a sinner saved by grace, a follower of Christ, a husband, and a father.